Arrest of Greg Oden illustrates disturbing story

Greg Oden is escorted into the Marion County Community Corrections building Aug. 7 in Indianapolis. Police arrested the former NBA No. 1 draft pick on battery charges, alleging he punched his ex-girlfriend in the face during a fight at his mother’s suburban Indianapolis home.
(Photo:
Brent Drinkut/The Indianapolis Star via AP
)

INDIANAPOLIS – Court documents paint a chilling portrait: An angry professional athlete throwing his girlfriend to the couch as he towered above, punching her once, twice, a third time, the blood spilling out as a crumbled career crumbled further.

"Stop! Stop! Get off her!" two women in the room shouted, according to the police report. Both told police that Greg Oden relented only after he saw the blood pouring from Christina Green's face.

"He really wanted to punch the (expletive) up outta her," the report quoted Oden's mother, Zoe, as saying later that day.

The result of Oden's alleged rage in the early hours of Aug. 7: three stitches between Green's eyebrows, a fractured nasal bone, a left eye nearly swollen shut.

"You're talking about a woman who was pummeled by a 7-foot, 280-pound man," said Michael Grieco, Green's attorney.

It suggests a scene that seems to play out regularly: professional athletes descending into violence and hurting those closest to them.

In this case, the scene caps a dramatic fall from grace. Just eight years ago, Oden was the most coveted high school basketball prospect in America. The best big man since Lew Alcindor, they said.

Now he awaits trial on a charge of felony battery, his playing career all but finished.

For many, it doesn't add up.

Even at his peak — during his days starring at Lawrence North and his one season at Ohio State — Oden was a dichotomy amid his own dominance: as overpowering as he was on the court, he was just as reserved off it. Oden was innately shy, an introvert who never made much sense of the spotlight that continued to swell around him. When teammates would holler on the bus after wins, he would bury himself in his headphones and pop in another movie.

Once he reached the pros, his brittle knees became a metaphor for a career that slowly disintegrated. Oden, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft, missed 338 games in five years.

"I'm one of the biggest busts in NBA history," he told a friend this spring.

Still, few could have foreseen this type of outburst. As the blood dripped from Green's face that night, he called police.

"Things got out of control, and I started to go after Christina," he told an officer, according to the police report. "My mother and Toni (Fields, a friend of Green's at the house) tried to hold me back, but I swung my arms to move them out of the way and punched Christina in the face.

"I was wrong," he reportedly continued, "and I know what has to happen."

Oden's has become the latest in a litany of high-profile domestic violence cases. While professional athletes are arrested for these types of crimes at a lower rate than the average American — according to several studies, including one by the FBI — the issue vaults to the forefront every time a star uses his or her strength as a weapon.

Or, as Grieco says: "If it bleeds, it leads."

Among the most intriguing questions at play, as athletes such as Oden continue to find themselves in the spotlight for the wrong reason: do sports play a role in the violence?

Sports and domestic violence

South African track star Oscar Pistorius is on trial, charged with murdering his girlfriend by firing four 9 mm hollow-point rounds into a bathroom.

Former NFL star Chad Johnson spent time in jail after head-butting his then-wife and leaving a deep gash in her forehead.

Ray Rice, running back for the Baltimore Ravens, was arrested in February on a charge of assaulting his then-fiancée. Video showed Rice dragging her unconscious body from an elevator. Rice pleaded not guilty and entered a pretrial intervention program.

Athletes in trouble stir headlines and drive page views, feeding the average sports fan's hunger for round-the-clock news. While athletes are arrested at a much lower rate than the general public, the data tell us there are certain crimes athletes are more prone to committing. Domestic violence is among those most prevalent.

According to a recent study by statistical analysis site FiveThirtyEight, the arrest rate among NFL players is 13 percent of the national average. But according to a USA Today database that tracks crime among NFL players, 83 players have been arrested on domestic violence charges since 2000 — by far the the league's worst category.

FiveThirtyEight found domestic violence accounts for 48 percent of arrests for violent crimes among NFL players, compared with 21 percent nationally. Similar statistics aren't available for the NBA but at least eight players — Oden being the most recent — have been arrested in domestic violence cases since 2013.

How to explain it? The easy answer: They are violent men playing violent games. But there's more to it than that.

"For so many athletes, their emotional level is not allowed to grow up normally," said Dr. David Reiss, a psychiatrist who has worked with pro athletes and written extensively on the subject. "There are athletes out there who are chronically 30 years old, have the body of a 50-year-old but emotionally are still 14."

In a study titled, "The Vulnerabilities of Professional Athletes and Entertainers," Reiss explores athletes and their sense of entitlement.

"The vulnerability of talented individuals due to often having been seen as 'different' and treated 'preferentially' in both positive and negative ways since a young age (can) often disrupt optimal development of character and sound judgment," he writes.

But for many athletes, according to research by Derek Kreager, a sociologist who analyzed data from a national sample of 6,300 students in grades seven through 12, it goes back to the games they play. Kreager found combat and collision sports emphasize "hostility, physical domination and a willingness to use one's body as a weapon."

"They're also organized to produce hubris, isolate athletes from the community and encourage them to view outsiders as unworthy of their concern or respect."

Kreager's study notes football players and wrestlers were more than 40 percent more likely to be involved in fights than male peers who didn't play sports.

Then there are the pressures that come with high-level sports. Professional athletes work in some of the most competitive job markets in the world. Jobs are hard to earn and harder to keep. Salaries are enormous, careers short. The stakes are immensely high.

For those who do make it, remaining humble is a tricky proposition.

"Sports create a sense of privilege," said Kristy McCray, a doctoral candidate in sports management at Ohio State. "Some athletes believe they are entitled to certain things — more money, better girlfriends, better cars, bigger houses. They're not used to hearing 'no.' "

Which relates to another layer Reiss points out: the 'never quit' mentality so prevalent in high-level sports.

"Two parties will get into an argument, and no one wants a timeout," Reiss said. "They look at it as winning and losing. No one wants to back down."

Aftermath of the explosion

For those around Oden, the news was startling. As modest and reserved as he might have seemed growing up, he never knew normal. He stood out from his peers from an early age — first because of his size, then his skill.

Perhaps it was the weight of his crumbled career, some reasoned, and all the frustrations of not being able to meet the hype.

"Greg's the type of guy that was really hurting from the fact he wasn't able to live up to the expectations people set for him," Shelt said.

In recent years, Oden has admitted to battling depression and alcoholism as his career dissolved. After playing a reserve role for the Miami Heat in 2013-14, he's a free agent. It appears unlikely any NBA team would take a flier on him after this month's events.

By most accounts, Oden's relationship with Green was unstable. They had dated for portions of the past four years, but officers said Oden's mother told them that night: "Every time the two visited and went out, an argument ensued."

They had gone out to a nightclub that night, according to police documents. Green told officers Oden had been drinking, and he "sometimes gets upset when he drinks, and that they had some relationship issues lately."

"When you're in a bad relationship, it affects you in multiple ways," Shelt said. "Sometimes oil and water don't mix, and sometimes when you mix two chemicals you have an explosion. It sounds like that's what happened that night."

All that's left after that explosion: Green's bruised face, another professional athlete accused of having crossed the line and a once-promising career in shambles.